Pavement.



E. E. TROWBRIDGE.

PAVEMENT.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 12, 1917.

Patented June 4, 1918.

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mw/ y/w E. E. TROWBRIDGE.

PAVEMENT.

APPLlCATI ON FILED FEB- ]21 9|?- 1,268,184, 7 Patented June 4, 1918.

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PAVEMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 41, M918.

Application filed February 12, 1917. Serial N 0. 148,108.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMORY E. TRow- BRIDGE, a citizen of the-United States, residing in the city of Kansas City, county of Jackson, and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pavements, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in pavements and has among its salient objects to provide a construction which obtains not only a surface drainage and in such a way as to obviate any danger of washing away of the wearing surface of the road, but also provides for efieotual drainage from the road body; to provide a construction in which the road body itself is so shaped as to prevent the surface moisture from penetrating into the body of the road and "thus softening and eventually destroying the road body; to provide a construction in which the road is divided into, left and right traffic ways and so constructed as to prevent skidding in rainy or muddy weather wi-thhut it at the same time in any way interfering with the ready use of the road; to provide a construction in which the duplex roadway is suitably united and bonded together so as to form in efiect-a unitary structure; to provide a construction.

of the character last referred to having four runways which act as a permanent reinforcement for the entire road and tend to maintain the original contour of the crown of the road; to provide a construction which, when used as a brick pavement, permits the use of the brick in their original size without the necessity of cutting them as is the case in brick pavements now in use; to provide a construction in which the road is drained both crosswise and laterally; to provide a construction which is adapted for use with various kinds of wearing surfaces and in general to provide a simple and improved construction of the character referred to.

1am aware that heretofore various, and in fact multitudinous forms of pavements have been patented. From an examination of the prior art, however, I believe that my structure contains novel features and advantages not found in any of the prior art devices.

In" the drawings:

Figure 1 is a view partly in vertical section and partly in perspective, showing my improved roadway, the wearing surface of one of the runways as being made of brick, one of woodblock or the like.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing one of the runways as having its wearing surface made of wood blocks and showing also the cross locking members.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed cross-sectional view of one of the outside runways showing improved flange on outer edge, and method of handling surface drainage.

Before taking up a detailed description of the drawings, attention should be called to the fact that for the purpose of more particularly illustrating the various ways in which the pavement may be built, T have not only shown the wearing surface of the runways as made of various materials such as asphalt, wood blocks or brick pavements, but I have also shownthe foundation as made partly of broken stone, partly of gravel and partly of earth, although it is to be understood that in actual practice, the entire road body will be made of the same material. The structure as a whole is more particularly adapted for use in country roadways although not necessarily so limited.

Referring to the drawings:

1 designates the road body which may be of broken stone, gravel, earth or any other suitable material. On this material in the usual grooves of the country roadway are formed headers designated 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. These headers may be formed of concrete and are each provided with a longitudinally and centrally disposed groove 6 bounded by ribs 7 and 8. The outer edges of these ribs 7 and 8 are preferably beveled as shown at 9 and 10 respectively in order to permit the trailic to cross from one side "of the road to the other without the wheels striking any sharp corners and also to act as an interlocking joint connectin the headers with the material of the foun ation to prevent the surface moisture from penetrating the road bed at the point of contact of the different kinds of material. The outer sides of the headers below the grooves are inclined or beveled inwardly as shown at 11 and 12 and foundation is sloped correspondingly outwardly at the points where the headers are inset in the road body to form in effect a dovetail interlocking connection as shown more clearly in the drawings. The upper surfaces of the ribs 7 and 8 are substantially 13 of the runways which may be of asphalt,

brick, wood blocks or other suitable wearing surface material. Preferably a sand cushion l4 isinterposed between the wearing surface and the base of the groove 6, when wood block or brick is used for wearing material. The crown 15 of the roadway 1s elevated preferably approximately one half inch to a foot in comparison with the inner line of the outside headers 2 and 5. The headers 3 and 4 are built with a slope on the ground of the road while the outer run headers 2 and 5 with their wearing surfaces are practically level, with a concave flange on the outer I The slope of the central runways ed e. ten ds to keep the vehicle such as an automobile to the extreme right of the road, while the wearing surface of the outer runways being level, and having the concave flange at the outer edge, counteracts this tendency to a certain extent and thus serves to keep the vehicle steady and prevents it jogging from side to side.

Describing now the manner of tying the runways and headers into a unitary structure so as to prevent displacement of the headers relative to each other, I provide aplurality of transversely extending interlocking units, each designated as a whole 16. These interlocking units are built at inter vals along the road and so shaped as to embrace the header members and lock them effectively in position. They may be formed of the same material and in fact integral with the header members and laid simultaneously with the latter. l /hile it is apparent that the use of grooved runways of the character here described is advantageous, particularly on country or suburban roads and it is also apparent that these headers and runways would not stay in place particularly when the roadway is subjected to the disintegrating action of spring rains or the like unless some means were obtained of edectively locking them. This is accomplished by the use of the interlocking units 16 above described.

As a further feature of the invention it provide means for effectively draining not only the wearing surface of the roadway but also the foundation and other component parts of the road. It will-be noted that the crown of the road itself is such as to effectively drain the upper surface of the road. To drain the road body, I provide transversely extending drain pipes 17, these drain pipes 17 being laid transversely ofythe road at such intervals as local conditions require and might, for example, be laid wherever the interlocking units 16 are. I also provide longitudinally extending drain pipes 19, which also may be formed of tile and drained into the transversely extending pipes 17. If desired, the header members may be provided with longitudinally extending metallic reinforcing rods 20, although the use of these rods will depend upon local conditions.

The manner in which the road is to be laid is apparent from the foregoing descrip' tion and need not be described in detail. The invention is not limited to the details of construction shown except as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a pavement, the combination with two pair of longitudinally extending grooved headers, each havin a wearing surface, the wearing surfaces of the inner head ers inclining downwardly toward the adja-.

cent outer header, each header having a rib projecting above the wearing surface at one side and a rib substantially flush with the wearing surface at the other side, and transversely extending interlocking units for securing the headers against lateral displacement.-

2. In a pavement, the combination with two pair of longitudinally extending grooved headers, each having a wearing surface, the wearing surfaces of the inner headers inclining downwardly toward the adjacent outer header, each header having a rib projecting above the wearing surface at one side and a rib substantially flushed with the wearing surface at the other side, transversely extending interlocking units for securing the headers against lateral displacement, and means for draining the surface below the headers comprising longitudinally and transversely extending drain pipes and vertical conduits extending from the face of the headers downwardlyto the pipes.

EMORY E. TROWBRIDGE.

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